The One and Only Ivan

“With enough time, you can get used to almost anything”. Ivan

In today’s world, have we all gotten used to people treating each other with disrespect, unkindness, and rudeness? It’s on the news and on the Internet and in shopping malls and schools and…when does it stop? Certainly there are people who are respectful, kind, and polite, but often those are not the people who are always seen and heard.

Children need positive models and practice in being respectful, kind, and polite. That modeling and practice often occurs in classrooms. Many teachers create classroom communities where all learners are treated with respect, kindness, and politeness. They support that modeling and those practices by reading aloud books like Wonder by R. J. Palacio and The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. While both books are very different, they both offer stories where respect, kindness, and politeness win out.

My colleagues and I recently uploaded a unit plan for The One and Only Ivanon Teachers Pay Teachers and have three different products for Wonder. If you’re a teacher looking for great novels to read aloud, check out Ivan and Wonder.